Naruto: Zori
by avatarfan364
Summary: ..."With them gone, our land has no more ninja. And no one else to interfere with us." Zori stated pulling out his sword...
1. Chapter 1

Please R&R

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**Shippuden 180**

Naruto and Sakura sat by wooden supplies.

"Is Granny Tsunade still in a coma?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Sakura replied.

"I have so many things I want to tell her." Naruto stated.

"Don't worry. Lady Tsunade will wake up soon! She's a strong woman. Our Hokage! She'll be all right!" Sakura stated, 'what am I encouraging Naruto for? I'm the one who needs convincing... Naruto.'

"It's bee Naruto super-long time, Naruto! Sakura!" Inari stated.

"Is that...?" Sakura asked before she and Naruto stood up.

"Inari and Old Man Tazuna? Inari, you've grown up! Old man, you've gotten even older." Naruto stated.

"Shut it..." Tazuna mumbled.

"I'm a carpenter now. That's why I've come here, at the request of the Hidden Leaf. And I thought I'd say hello to you guys. Sakura, you're so pretty." Inari stated.

"You think so?" Sakura asked blushing.

"Man, how long has it been? Two years? Three? Longer? Imagine, that little kid is now..." an stated.

_Flashback_

"_I can't find it! It's gone!" Naruto shouted rummaging through his bag by Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke._

"_Cripes. Stop making such a fuss." Sakura stated._

"_But it's gone! Teuchi gave me a free coupon for Ichiraku. I had it on me the whole time. I probably forgot it at Old Man Tazuna's place." Naruto explained before running off._

"_Hey! Hold on!" Sakura shouted._

"_I'll be right back." Naruto shouted_

"_Man... he's so impatient." Sakura stated._

"_What a loser." Sasuke added._

"_That boy... we need to hurry back after this drawn-out mission and make our report." Kakashi started._

"_Kakashi, let's just leave him." Sakura suggested._

"_We can't do that. Sasuke, go and bring him back." Kakashi ordered._

"_Why me?" Sasuke asked._

"_Now now. This is all part of teamwork." Kakashi stated as Tazuna held the coupon._

"_Ichiraku? Never heard of this place. I found this in the room where those Leaf kids stayed." Tazuna told Inari who was reading a book._

"_Huh?" Inari asked._

_Flashback_

"_I always eat ramen there after a mission. Always." Naruto told Inari holding the coupon._

"_Really? Is it that good?" Inari asked._

"_Of course! I'm not exaggerating when I say that my blood, body, and soul are made from Ichiraku's ramen. When you come to my village someday, I'll treat you." Naruto told him._

_End flashback_

"_This belongs to Naruto. I'll be back!" Inari stated before leaving the house._

"_My, my..." Tazuna murmured as Naruto ran through the forest before kunai hit in front of him._

"_Watch out! What're you doing, jerk?" Naruto yelled as Sasuke._

"_That's because you screw up our teamwork." Sasuke stated._

"_Huh?" Naruto asked._

"_Don't waste any more of our time. Come back now." Sasuke ordered._

"_Okay, I get it. But... after I finish my business! Like I'm going to obey your orders, stupid!" Naruto shouted before running past Sasuke and hitting his rear end._

"_Why you..." Sasuke murmured following him towards Inari's village. Inari ran through the village._

"_Look, it's Inari. He's been eating cocky. Ever since he took the spotlight in that Gato incident." Some villager kids and Akane stated before knocking him to the ground in the forest._

"_Oww... what's the big idea?" Inari shouted._

"_You're cocky. You're supposed to be crybaby Inari." One stated._

"_I'm not a crybaby. Move, I'm in a hurry." Inari stated walking away but one stopped him._

"_Trying to sound tough, huh? As if you can do anything alone. What'll you do? Your ninja friends already went home to their village." The kids and Akane explained._

"_Oh yeah? That's good news." Zori said._

"_You guys!" Inari shouted seeing Zori and Waraji._

"_It was worth the wait." Waraji added as Naruto jumped into the village with Sasuke following on the rooftops._

"_Cripes, you're so persistent! Well then... Sexy jutsu! Hey, wait. it's just for a while." Naruto stated before Sasuke kicked him in the face then Naruto rolled off the rooftop, "you jerk... you did that for real!"_

_Suddenly Sasuke threw wire around Naruto and he fell to the ground._

"_Give it up already." Sasuke stated._

"_What are you two doing here?" Tazuna asked._

"_Old Man Tazuna! Perfect timing! See, I forgot something at your place." Naruto explained._

"_Do you mean a super-tiny piece of paper?" Tazuna asked._

"_Yeah, yeah." Naruto replied._

"_Inari was determined to take it to you and he ran off a while ago." Tazuna explained._

"_Huh?" Naruto asked as Gato's thugs sat around a building as war and Zori threwina and the three other kids and Akane in a room tied up._

"_How come you're still here? And the rest of you too. I thought Naruto kicked you out back then." Inari stated._

"_Kicked us out? We were just waiting until those troublesome guys left." Waraji explained._

"_With them gone, our land has no more ninja. And no one else to interfere with us." Zori stated pulling out his sword._

"_What're you going to do?" Inari asked before Zori hit the wall right above Inari's head._

"_Calm down, kid. We're going to be the next Gato." Zori explained as Naruto and Sasuke walked down a road._

"_Hey, where are you?" Naruto shouted._

"Calm down, kid. We're going to be the next Gato." Zori explained as Naruto and Sasuke walked down a road.

"Inari! Hey, where are you? Strange... I was pretty sure he'd be on this road. Hey, Sasuke! Help me look too!" Naruto shouted at him leaning against a tree.

"Inari went looking for you. I have nothing to do with this." Sasuke explained

"What? Hey, whatever happened to teamwork?" Naruto shouted.

"That's why I'm here with you. Be grateful, you loser." Sasuke added before Naruto stomped off, "where are you going?"

"Shut up! I need to take a leak!" Naruto shouted before seeing the coupon on the ground hten picking it up, "what's my ramen coupon doing here?"

"Hey, look." Sasuke stated seeing mangled footprints.

"What's this? It's slight, but I detect signs of a fight." Naruto stated.

'What happened?' Sasuke shouted.

'Did something happen? Inari...' Naruto thought before it started raining and Gato's men drank and ate.

"How about ransoming the kids to make money?" a man asked.

"In any case, turning into the next Gato is a great plan." One stated.

"Alcohol and money... we'll take it all." another added before they all laughed as Zori and war sat alone at the bar.

"Man I feel like cutting into something. Like that kid back there." Awr stated with a smile.

"Cut it out. That's a bad habit of yours." Zori added as two men watched the room the kids were in.

"I wonder what's going to happen to us. We finally got rid of Gato. And now..." Akane stated before another kid started crying.

"Crying won't help. Crying won't solve anything. Naruto taught me that." Inari explained.

"Inari?" the other asked.

"We fight. Otherwise, we can't protect the things that are dear to us." Inari stated before looking at the sword in the wall; the others followed as Naruto and Sasuke walked in the rain.

"This is bad... this rain... it's only a matter of time before all traces are washed away." Sasuke stated.

"Then we've got to find another way before that happens!" Naruto stated, 'please be safe.'

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Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Please R&R

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"Everyone ready to go?" Inari asked as the men guarding them blacked out from being drunk.

"Yeah." The others replied untied.

"We've got to run back to town and notify the grown-ups." Ian stated.

"Yeah!" Akane and the other two replied before Inari opened a window but sound makers started.

"Oh no!" Inari stated before Gato's men heard it.

"What?" Zori asked.

"The kids' room!" Waraji stated before the men guarding the kids saw them out the window running into the forest.

"Hey, the brats are running away!" the men yelled before Sasuke and Naruto saw marks on the tree.

"These marks are fresh. From a sword?" Sasuke asked.

"I've... seen this before! It's those two men from Gato." Naruto stated.

"So the culprits are Gato's remnants? Up ahead. Let's go, Naruto!" Sasuke ordered.

"Gotcha!" Naruto replied before they ran through the forest as Gato's men looked for Inari, Akane, and the other two kids.

"Find them. They must be close." one ordered.

"Those brats made fools of us." Another added as Inari, Akane, and the other two kids hid behind a tree breathing heavily.

"Hey, at this rate we'll be found!" Akane pointed out.

"I'll distract them." Inari stated.

"D-Don't be ridiculous! If you try that they'll-" Akane stated.

"Otherwise, we'll all be killed. Besides... I have an idea." Inari added.

"Cripes, where'd they go? Found them! Over this way!" a man asked after Inari jumped past them; they ran past Akane, and the other two kids after Inari.

"Inari! Let's go you two." Akane stated as Inari ran through the forest.

'It's do or die. Please protect me... dad!' Inari thought as Tazuna and Tsunami readied for dinner.

"Inari is late. I wonder where he's gone." Tsunami stated.

"You're right." Tazuna replied before looking at a picture then answering the door seeing villagers, "what is it?"

"The kids who went out to play haven't returned yet." A man stated.

"Akane's not back yet." Another added.

"Neither is my son." Another stated.

"Yamabuki hasn't returned either, it seems." A man added.

"They were seen earlier today with your Inari." Another added as Gato's men cornered Inari on the edge of the forest near a river ravine.

"You're a bunch of trouble! We can't have you running off again. Maybe we should just cut off a leg, eh?" Waraji asked before Inari looked at the river below, "Ready to give up?"

The men ran at Inari before he jumped into the river.

"What? He jumped?" Waraji asked.

"Below! Go down there!" Zori shouted before they ran.

_flashback_

"_Dad, you swam through those rapids to fix the dam, right?" Inari asked._

"_I guess I did among other things." Kaiza replied looking at the dam._

"_You're amazing, dad. I can't even swim." Inari stated._

"_Then that's one of the things you must do your best to learn." Kaiza added._

"_But... I'm scared." Inari stated._

"_Don't worry. You have those two arms. You can do anything. Just move those arms! Paddle hard." Kaiza stated to Inari in the water._

"_I can't, dad. The water's so cold. This way, hang in there. But I'm not moving forward at all. Why can't... wait! Please wait!" Inari shouted._

"_It's all right. You can do it! Come on, Inari! Inari!" Kaiza shouted._

_End flashback_

"Inari! Inari! Grab on! alright!" Naruto shouted before jumping in the river with Sasuke helping hold a chain of clones; Inari grabbed Naruto's hand then Naruto jumped onto the shore.

"How come you guys are here?" Inari asked.

"Good job, Inari! You helped your friends escape. That's what led us here." An explained.

"Akane and the others?" Inari asked before Gato's men arrived.

"Looks like we don't have time to chat." Sasuke pointed out.

"You're the brats from the Hidden Leaf. You've got some nerve, showing up here! It's just two kids. Get 'em!" Zori shouted pulling out his sword.

"Yeah!" Waraji and the other men replied before Sasuke flew away with Inari.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.

"Yeah! We won't be outnumbered! Shadow Clone Jutsu! Let's go, everyone!" Naruto shouted.

"Yeah!" the clones yelled before engaging in battle.

"You stay here." Sasuke stated setting Inari down.

"Okay!" Inari replied before Sasuke left, "you guys..."

"So weak, so weak! You are nothing against me. As long as I'm not taken by surprise, this is easy." Waraji shouted knocking clones out.

"Demon Wind Shuriken!" Sasuke shouted.

"What?" Waraji shouted before a shuriken flew around.

"Why you... I'll pulverize you!" a man shouted.

"No, don't!" Waraji shouted before the shuriken split and hit four men.

"Such simpletons." Sasuke stated.

"Underestimating us... I'll kill you!" Waraji shouted as the men ran for Sasuke.

"You're no match at all. Here we go!" Naruto shouted before his clones surrounded them then chucked wooden pillars at them burying them.

"Darn! They may be kids but they're still ninja! This isn't working! We'll be back. First let's regroup! What?" Zori shouted leaving with some others before arrows hit near his feet; he saw villagers blocking his way.

"As if we'll welcome you back! This is the end of the road for you." Tazuna shouted with the other villagers with Akane, Yamabuki and another kid.

"Grandpa! Everyone!" Inari shouted.

"We'll never allow thugs to have their way in our land!" Tazuna shouted before Zori and the others fell to their knees and soon the villagers tied them up.

"Remnants of Gato's group were up to no good, eh? We'll turn you over to the authorities so you can never do evil again." Tazuna told them.

"And I thought you were just a bunch of cowards." Zori added as Inari was wrapped Inari towel.

"Thanks, Inari." Akane stated.

"Akane." Inari stated.

"I misjudged you." Akane added before Inari laughed.

"Not 'heh heh heh'!" Naruto shouted hitting Inari in the head.

"Oww!" Inari shouted.

"Cripes, you made us worry! You are such a..." Naruto shouted.

"Naruto... I... I'm sorry!" Inari shouted before crying then hugging Naruto who cried, "It's okay, at times like this. Oh yeah, I forgot to give you something."

"Don't worry, I have that coupon...it's gone." Naruto stated.

"You probably dropped it in the river. Forget it already." Sasuke stated before Naruto really started to cry along with the other kids.

_End flashback_

"Akane and the others too. They're carpenters like me." Inari stated pointing to them.

"What a surprise." Naruto stated.

"Back then, and that time with Gato. Thank you for everything. Because of you, the Land of Waves has become very prosperous." Tazuna stated rubbing Inari's head.

"So this time, we're going to return the favor! And first, Naruto... will be Ichiraku! Just you watch. I'll build an amazing one!" Inari stated before Sakura and Naruto smiled.

"Inari... thanks." Naruto replied smiling.

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Please R&R


End file.
